Traditions Aren't So Bad
by HaleyJo
Summary: This is just a cute little Christmas themed oneshot I thought up today. All cute and fluffy, so don't expect anything angsty or dark or anything but fluffy goodness that makes you want to smile and snuggle with a significant other.GaaSaku


I got all "I'm-gonna-make-a-holiday-themed-one-shot". Here's my Christmas themed GaaSaku one-shot.

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**Traditions Aren't So Bad**

Sakura laughed as she ducked an oncoming snowball sent her way by Naruto. She sent one back and caught him right under the jaw, guaranteeing it would melt and dribble down his collar. She dove behind a tree and squatted down low, effectively hiding herself from view. She giggled as snowballs flew over her while she remained unseen, granting her a much needed breather.

From the sounds of the laughter and screams, everyone was having a blast, Temari and Kankuro the most. Coming from Suna, they had never seen snow before, let alone gotten in a snowball fight. It was great having the Sand siblings visiting them for Christmas; Sakura had gotten really close to them over the past few years. They treated her like a younger sibling, but she also almost acted like their mother, getting in between their little sibling spats and the like.

"Come on!" Naruto yelled, "We gotta go! The party's in an hour!"

'_Oh, right! The party!'_ Sakura jumped up and ran to catch up with the others, _'I totally forgot!'_

'_**How typical,'**_ Her inner self scoffed, _**'You're always forgetting everything these days.'**_

'_Lay off!'_ Sakura snapped back, _'If you get me into a bad mood, it'll show. I don't want to be the Scrooge this year!'_

'_**You're just all distracted 'cause you're always thinking about Gaa**__ra__**-kun,'**_ Inner Sakura giggled insanely. She was always saying his name that way so it sounded like she was saying 'raccoon.'

Sakura blushed, but she could thankfully blame it on the cold wind whipping around them as they hurried to Tsunade's place. She wasn't about to deny that she thought about Gaara a lot, because she did, all the time. She liked to think they had become close over the years since the Sand siblings had grown fond of her for whatever reason. He seemed to relax around her a lot more whenever they were together, and even more so when they were alone. Her thigh frequently acted like his living pillow. Sometimes he would talk then, but often times he didn't. He always seemed so fragile whenever he would lay there, his hand usually draped over her knee, but he learned after the second time to keep his fingers still. Her knees were really, _really_ ticklish. She fought with a smile as she recalled his childishly shocked and bewildered expression when she had suddenly laughed and jolted under his head when his fingertips brushed her knee. It had taken several minutes to explain to him what had happened. That was the day he learned what being ticklish was. She had a suspicion that he was ticklish too from the way his eyes had brightened briefly in recognition as she had explained what being tickled felt like, but she had never gotten around to finding out.

"Hello!" Someone was poking her in the side of the head. It was Temari, "What are you thinking so hard about?"

"Nothing much," That was honest. She was only thinking about one thing, person…boy.

"Hurry up!" Naruto yelled as he banged on Tsunade's door, "Come on, Tsunade-baa-chan! It's freezing out here!"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Tsunade opened the door and whacked the over enthusiastic blonde over the head.

Sakura giggled as she slid past them to get into the house, shaking the snow out of her hair as she shrugged out of her winter coat, hanging it up in the closet. She found Gaara in the living room, his face slightly puzzled as he tried to figure out exactly how the lights were supposed to go on the enormous pine tree Tsunade had had Jiraiya drag in from the forests around Konoha.

"Need some help?" Gaara looked up when she spoke, black encased cyan orbs locking with her jade ones.

"That would be appreciated," Sakura smiled as she went over to help. She always liked listening to him talk since it was out of the norm, "These are confusing."

"Sometimes," Sakura grabbed a handful and started working the knots out of them. Something crashed in the kitchen and Tsunade was yelling something at Naruto and Jiraiya, Temari was yelling at Kankuro, and the doorbell rang, Kankuro slipped away long enough to let Kakashi, Gai, and Lee in the house. They said something about Neji, Tenten, Hinata, and Kiba being on their way as soon as they got Hanabi to go to bed, "If you pack them away right, then they're not such a hassle to work with the next Christmas. But since this is Tsunade we're talking about, well…"

"She has no organizational skills," Gaara finished for her, blunt as ever as he tried to help untangle the wires, the process not as hard now that there were two sets of hands, "Thus leading to this problem."

"Uh-huh," Sakura's brow furrowed as she tugged on a wire, the worry lines smoothing when the wires fell free, "There we go! Now let's get these on the tree so we can decorate it!"

Gaara's sand was enormously helpful since neither of them were tall enough to reach the top of the tree. Once he knew what he was doing, getting the lights on wasn't as confusing for the poor redhead as it had been earlier. The house gradually got louder and louder as their friends started trickling in one by one. All the decorating was soon done, making Tsunade's house look like Santa hung out here instead of at the North Pole. Sakura made it a point to avoid the mistletoe that someone – once she figured out _who_, they were dead – had decided to pin up at every doorway. Lee kept trying to catch her under some, but she had so far been able to evade his efforts.

Sakura giggled as their teachers slowly but surely started to let loose some as the sake started to work its way through their systems. Even some of their friends were showing signs of intoxication regardless of the fact they were too young to drink. She saw Kiba and Ino getting awfully close and did her best to choke down her laughter when Hinata promptly fainted when Naruto caught her under the mistletoe.

"Christmas is very…strange," Gaara's voice sounded from beside her and the only reason she didn't jump out of her skin was that she was used to him doing that. She did jump every now and then, though.

"Only when you're surrounded by strange people drunk on sake and party nerves," She grinned at him before turning around just in time to catch Temari whacking Shikamaru over the head for falling asleep.

"Hey Gaara!" Sakura giggled when Naruto draped an arm over the redhead's shoulders. Gaara's nose wrinkled a bit when he smelled the alcohol on the other boy's breath.

"Naruto," Gaara nodded before shrugging out from under his arm, causing Naruto to lose his footing and fall flat on his face. Sakura giggled beside him, shifting away from the fallen blonde slightly. She was wearing a red dress with fluffy white on the edges of the skirt, sleeves, and neck, a black belt wrapped around her tiny waist. In short, she didn't want to be standing over Naruto when he looked up even if she was wearing black leggings.

They got jostled around quite a bit as people became a bit rowdier. They wouldn't have moved so much if they hadn't been trying to avoid getting bumped so much. Ino suddenly squealed and pointed above them.

Sakura's face turned an interesting shade of crimson when she saw the viridian leaves and pearly white berries of mistletoe hanging over her and Gaara. Everyone stopped to stare and that made it even worse. At least Naruto and Hinata had had the privacy of chaos when _they_ ended up under the damned plant!

Wanting to get away from all the staring eyes, Sakura leaned up to Gaara and placed a quick, shy kiss on his lips before darting away down the hall and up the stairs, absolutely humiliated. Tsunade's house was huge, so she took solace in the fact that no one would find her for a while yet.

She stepped out onto a balcony and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep some heat. Her thoughts traveled back to the kiss, not that they had ever left it. It was so quick she couldn't really remember any details, and that bummed her a bit.

'_**You should have **__really__** kissed him!'**_ Inner Sakura complained loudly, _**'Then we could have at least had something nice to look back on!**_

'_Shut up,'_ Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight down another wave of embarrassment.

'_**Do you think he liked it?'**_ She wondered, ignoring Sakura's command for her to be silent, _**'Do you think we were any good?'**_

'_I don't know!'_ Sakura clenched her hands into fists under her arms, _'How would I know? I've never kissed anyone before!'_

"Sakura."

She jumped and turned around, seeing Gaara sitting on the railing beside her. How the hell did he do that?! Just pop up out of nowhere. Damn demon ninja stealth.

"Oh! Hi Gaara," Sakura rubbed her arms a bit as a gust of wind blew past them, "How goes things?"

He didn't answer. Of course he didn't, not one to spare anyone an awkward moment. He shifted a little, seemed a bit uncomfortable. No one else would be able to tell, but she had gotten really good at reading him. The way he shifted his weight to the left conveyed discomfort.

"You ok?" Sakura heard herself ask and refrained from whacking herself over the head.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why?" Gaara's cyan eyes caught her in their inescapable hold, "Why follow a tradition you don't want to? You didn't with that game Naruto tried to push you into. What was it called…?"

"Spin-the-Bottle?" Sakura cocked her head, remembering.

It was at Ino's birthday party the year before. Gaara had been visiting and Naruto dragged them both to Ino's party. It had gotten pretty wild and ended up with a game of Spin-the-Bottle. Gaara hadn't wanted to play any of the games and Sakura had very loudly refused, saying she didn't want to lose her first kiss in a stupid game.

"Yeah. I remember."

"Why was this different?" Gaara asked. What was that light in his eyes? Was he looking for something? No. Couldn't be.

"I wanted to," She mumbled, praying he hadn't heard her.

"Why?"

Oh, why did he have to ask that? His nonexistent grasp of social etiquette was sometimes incredibly frustrating instead of endearingly amusing.

"Why?" When she turned he was right there, his face so close to hers. Despite the frigid air around her, she suddenly felt very warm.

"Um…" She tried to form words, but her brain wasn't working right, not at all. This was just too much. She couldn't think with Gaara's perfect face so close to hers, his breath ghosting over her cheek.

She had thought of this before, but it was different when the subject was inches from you. Contrary to popular belief, she had let Sasuke go rather quickly, the betrayal wounding her deeply. Sasuke's face was attractive in the traditional sense, the pretty boy who had girls worshiping the ground he walked on and was the best in everything. Gaara was so different, his features were calm, but something always stirred just beneath the surface. Something feral and raw, elegant and hauntingly untamable. That something was Gaara, the many things that made up who and what he was.

"Why something like me?" Gaara asked, so close she could feel the heat radiating from his thin frame. Those words got her. _Something_…

"You're not a 'something'," Sakura said, her voice faint and breathy, "You're a someone. You're Gaara, and don't ever let anyone tell you any different."

"Then why someone like me?" He asked again, leaning even closer, yet still not touching her. She was still at the mercy of his cyan eyes, unable to put any personal space between them, "Why me?"

"I wanted to."

"_Why_?" He asked again, his nose brushing against hers. This closeness was too much. If it went on much longer, she would kiss him again. She shut her eyes and took a slow, deep breath to try and calm her frazzled nerves. Her hands were clasped tightly before her, trying to tame the upheaval of emotion Gaara's prolonged proximity was stirring up within her.

Suddenly, a soft, warm pressure on her mouth snapped her eyes open. His eyes were still open, staring at her, but Gaara was kissing her. He was kissing her! The gesture was feather light, gently seeking. When she didn't move, a palm came up to cup her cheek, gently stroking the winter chilled skin. The other moved to the back of her head when she still didn't pull away, tugging her closer, increasing the pressure of the kiss. Her eyes slid shut and she leaned against him, resting her hands on his shoulders.

Gaara then wrapped his arms around her and pinned her against him, kissing her ardently. He had to part for air after a minute, but the break was only for a second before his mouth crushed against hers again. His tongue found its way past her lips at some point, creating sparks in her mouth. Sakura mewled softly, his mouth moving over hers making her stomach attempt complex acrobatics.

He finally released her, keeping her in his arms but allowing her to breathe. Both were breathing heavily and staring at each other, eyes roaming over each others' faces.

"What now?" He asked.

"I don't know," Sakura shifted slightly, "What do you want?"

Gaara gazed at her for a moment before he pulled her closer, gently holding her close, tucking her head under his chin.

"Can we stay like this…for a while?" He asked. She could imagine his face, that childlike expression he got whenever he asked for anything that left him vulnerable, open to pain.

"Yes," She snaked her arms around him and held him in return, smiling into his chest, "We can."

"…Traditions aren't so bad," Gaara said after a long moment.

"Yeah," Sakura snuggled a little closer, tilting her head to kiss his chin, "They aren't so bad."

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And there you have it. It feels a bit rushed to me, but oh well. All in all, I like it. Tell me what you think. Click the little review button. Please?

Oh yeah. Have a merry Christmas and all those other holidays people celebrate this time of year. Love and good will and peace and all that goodness to all out there!

-Bloodied Sand


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